


For the sunshine of a friendly gaze

by angrywarrior69



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: 25 Days of Voyager, Alien Rituals, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Vulcan Flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 14:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17082002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angrywarrior69/pseuds/angrywarrior69
Summary: “This yazkan box is used in a Wellia celebration of thanks and prosperity. It simply scans the person holding it and shows you something you truly want to see!”“Ah yes!” he exclaims. “Whenever I open it, I see this Talaxian fire slug.”“You see a slug?” Tom snorts.





	For the sunshine of a friendly gaze

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ariella884](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariella884/gifts), [BlackVelvet42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackVelvet42/gifts).



> merr chrimbus space sluts
> 
> this is not betad, the mistakes are mine

“Well," she pauses to fold her hands on the briefing room table, "that concludes ship's business for now, but before you go, there is one other matter Neelix has brought to my attention.”

The brightly dressed talaxian man who had been poorly concealing his glee throughout the meeting finally let his teeth show in a big smile as he looked to the head of the table.

“May I?”

“Go right ahead.” Janeway waves her hand out and relaxes into her chair before passing a quick smirk to Chakotay.

“Thank you, captain.” Neelix says, standing and moving to the far end of the table. “This, my friends, is a Wellion yazkan box. I acquired it on Topien four.”

He holds up a small wooden box, places it on the table, and stands there smiling as awkward eye contact is passed around the room. It becomes clear no one knows what he is talking about.

“What does it do?” B'elanna inquires, almost politely.

“I'm glad you asked.” He picks it up to put on display before them. “This yazkan box is used in a Wellia celebration of thanks and prosperity. It simply scans the person holding it and shows you something you truly want to see!” He chuckles and opens it.

“Ah yes!” he exclaims and sticks his hand inside, scooping up something that seems to be only visible to him. “Whenever I open it, I see this Talaxian fire slug.”

Placing the box on the table, he enlists the use of his other hand to presumably help with holding the slug.

“You see a slug?” Tom snorts.

“Yes, I had one just like it when I was a boy. I named him Dexy and had him for almost ten years. This little guy and I went through so much together; puberty, my first kiss, school dances,” he lowers his voice and winks, “and we even got into some mischief every now and then.”

“Your slug was with you for your first kiss?” Chakotay asks.

“Of course! I had him in my pocket all the time like any good slug owner,” he says without a hint of jest.

He brings his hands up to his face and begins baby talking to the nothingness there.

Janeway clears her throat.

“Sorry.” He carefully places the “slug” back into the box and closes it. “Who wants to go next?”

They all stare at each other in bewildered silence.

“Do we have to?” asks Seven.

“No one has to do anything they don't want to do,” Janeway begins, “but seeing as our morale officer thinks this might be a fun activity for the crew, I told him the senior staff could try it first.”

“So we're guinea pigs.” Tom states indignantly.

Kathryn turns her full attention on him. “Are you volunteering, mister Paris?”

Tom opens his mouth to speak, but Chakotay interrupts.

“Have you done this?” he asks Kathryn.

“I haven't. Neelix thought it would be best if we could share the experience.”

Everyone looks to Neelix who doesn't seem to be losing any of his nerve.

“What do you say, Tom?” he asks while holding out the box to the helmsman.

“Sure, I'll try it.”

He cautiously takes the object and glances over the table at B'elanna who nods at him. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opens it.

“What?” he whispers and slowly sticks his hand inside, picking something up delicately with the tips of his fingers.

He holds the object close to his face and spins his hand around like he is inspecting something.

“What do you see?” Neelix asks from over his shoulder.

_Tom quickly looks up around the table to check their faces. They all seemed as confused as he is, but he doesn't believe any of them can see the items in his hand. Infant-sized hockey skate booties were in the box when he opened it. When he spins them around, the miniature bat'leth blades on the bottom glimmer in the light._

_A dull ache begins to form in his chest, a longing for adventure._

He quickly puts the booties back into the box and closes it before handing it back over to Neelix.

“It was a nice pair of wool socks,” he announces with a strained smile on his face.

“Oh come on, Tom you can't be serious,” B'elanna protests.

“What?” He shrugs. “I'm a simple man, B'elanna.”

The captain leans forward to end the dispute. “No one has to share anything if they don't want to.”

“Who's next?”

“I'll go,” Harry curiously raises his hand.

Neelix rushes over and gives him the box. The young man sets it down on the table and takes a deep breath before opening it.

His face immediately breaks into a sad smile. The longer he gazes into it, the more his eyes well up.

“What do you see, Harry?” Janeway asks.

He wipes an escaping tear from his eye.

_In the base of the box was a picture of his family. Three generations of the Kim family smile brightly at him from the image. Harry spots himself, no more than eight years old, off to the side with his cousins._

“I'd almost forgotten,” he whispers.

Neelix puts a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder. “It's alright, Harry.”

He nods and takes in a shaking breath. “It's a picture of my family. We were at this secluded park with a pond for my grand mother's birthday. Everyone was there.” He pauses to take a more sturdy inhale. “I was just a child. I had so much fun.”

His shaking fingers reach into the box and lightly stroke next to where his parents stand in the picture.

“Thank you, Neelix,” he sniffles and closes the yazkan box, handing it back to the Talaxian. “That was really nice.”

Neelix gives him a warm smile and squeezes his shoulder before turning back to the room.

“Alright, who's next?”

No one volunteers.

“How about you, Tuvok?” Neelix smirks.

The security chief subtly eyes the captain who simply raises her eyebrow at him.

“Certainly.”

Neelix doesn't even try to contain his smile as he hands it over this time. Tuvok opens the box and sits there blank faced for a whole minute.

_He finds himself in his home on Vulcan. Orange light from the desert dances through the drapes and shines into the room. T'pel stands in front of him, gently holding an orchid bulb on her fingertips._

“ _Do you know how illogical it is to keep this flower?” she asks._

_Tuvok takes a step forward when she does not look at him._

“ _Perhaps it would be logical to cease caring for it,” he pauses and reaches out to support her hand with two of his fingers, “After all, it was never your responsibility to keep it alive.”_

“ _No,” she agrees, “it was yours.”_

“ _And I am not here to fulfill that responsibility. Logic does not indicate that the task should fall to you.”_

“ _The orchid needs minimal assistance to thrive. Assistance I can easily provide.”_

“ _Perhaps the flower that blooms in adversity is the strongest, and most beautiful of all."_

_Finally her dark eyes meet his, and her free hand deliberately raises up, two fingers outstretched. He presses his fingertips to hers for a moment, and watches intently as she slowly trails her hand up his arm._

“ _This flower will be here for you, husband.”_

_Her hand approaches his face and he closes his eyes, the faintest whisper of a touch caresses his temple and cheek. The air grows cold and the lights brighten. He blinks and finds himself in_ Voyager's _briefing room, staring into the velvety base of an empty box._

“Thank you,” he says while handing it back.

“What? That's it? What did you see?” Neelix stammers.

Tuvok folds his hands on the table. “If you must know, I saw my wife, T'pel.”

“Oh that is wonderful, mister Vulcan!” Neelix laughs. “Was it a romantic encounter?” He elbows Tuvok in the arm.

“We discussed botany.”

“Oh,” Neelix disappointingly hums. “Well did you have fun?”

“Vulcans do not _have fun,_ Mister Neelix.”

“This activity is pointless,” Seven interjects.

All eyes awkwardly land on her, and Neelix breaks the silence.

“Why don't you give it a try and then tell me it's pointless?” he suggests.

Seven looks around the room uncomfortably.

“Fine.”

She holds out her metallic hand to receive the box and places it on the table in front of her, opening it without any further preamble.

“Intriguing,” she says as she motions to pick up an invisible item.

“Well what is it, Seven? “Is it as pointless as you hoped?” B'elanna teases.

_Seven spins the small cylindrical component in her hand, memorizing it's specifications._

“I believe this is the mechanism needed to enhance my alcove. The doctor and I have been working on this for days.”

“See? There is something for everyone!” Neelix says with confidence.

Seven nods and hands the box back over.

“Okay then, who wants to go now?”

“I won't be touching that thing with a 29 and a half foot pole, thank you.” B'elanna says dismissively.

The command duo share a glance. Chakotay speaks up first.

“Okay. Let's see it.”

“Here you go, commander.”

_Inside the box Chakotay sees a combadge, his brow furrows slightly as he picks it up. It appears to be just like every other one he's ever seen, but when he turns it around his lips part slightly in shock. Engraved on it is his registration number, his name._

_His hand fumbles to his chest to check if he's still wearing his. Finding it still secured to his jacket, he looks to the people at the table for answers. They look intrigued, but show no signs of understanding what he sees. The captain's dark blue eyes search his face with calm curiosity. His attention turns back to the item in his hand._

_He flips it upright and presses it. The affirmative chirp of receiving a communication is followed by familliar voices filtering through one by one._

“ _Kim to Chakotay. Can I borrow your ears to test out my new concerto?”_

“ _Paris to Chakotay. Please tell the doctor you need me on the bridge. I'm dying down here.”_

“ _B'elanna to Chakotay. Come spar with me in holodeck two. I'll go easy on you.”_

“ _Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay. Report to astrometrics. I've found new anthropological data on the planet's surface.”_

“ _Tuvok to Chakotay. Are you prepared to meet with the dignitaries?”_

“ _Janeway to Chakotay. You're late for dinner.”_

_The comm goes silent and Chakotay takes a moment to comprehend the sleuth of transmissions. Everything he heard seemed as normal and routine as everyday ship's business. Why, he asks himself, why would this be what he finds in this strange alien toy?_

_He puts the combadge back into the box and accepts his vision for what it was. Slowly, his face breaks into a soft smile, knowing that his life aboard Voyager is the truest, most wonderful gift the universe had ever given him. He closes the box and hands it over._

“Anything good in there, commander?” Neelix asks.

“Yes,” he doesn't elaborate. “Thank you, Neelix.”

The Talaxian smiles and turns to the head of the table.

“Are you ready, captain?”

She accepts the yazkan box and begins to open it.

“Here goes.”

_Kathryn finds herself standing on a grassy hill. In the distance down below is a tall iron fence that she recognizes as the entrance to the cemetery where her father's grave is located. She turns around, and there at her feet, exactly where she expects it to be, is the tombstone with his name on it._

_But it's different._

_The stone has doubled in size and the name of her mother is engraved on the new half. Kathryn falls to her knees, memories of talking to her mother just a few days ago through the data stream still fresh in her mind. In the midst of trying to comprehend what was happening, something else catches her eye._

_Further to the right are more graves. More family that died and been placed in the Janeway plot. She moves over to the next one, another joined stone, and reads the names, reads them again, and again._

 

_Kathryn Janeway_

_Decorated Starfleet admiral_

_Beloved wife and mother_

  
  


_Chakotay Janeway_

_Decorated Starfleet captain_

_Beloved husband and father_

  
  


_She goes cold and absently stares in shock._

“ _Come to visit the Janeways?” A weathered voice asks from behind._

_Turning, she sees an elderly man. He wears a uniform she doesn't quite recognize, and holds half a dozen pink roses in one hand, a walking cane in the other._

“ _Can you help me with these?” he asks, proffering the flowers._

“ _Of course,” Kathryn says, taking them. She is grateful that her hand doesn't shake as much as his. “Where do you put them?”_

_The man points at her father's grave and works his way down._

“ _One for Edward, one for Gretchen, one for Kathryn, one for Chakotay, and one for Phoebe.”_

_It takes her a moment, but she forces herself to not freeze up and makes her way down the line, placing the flowers by the tombstones. Her tears finally begin to spill as she places the peace rose on her sister's grave. She stands and approaches the man again, confused by the extra rose in her hand._

“ _There's one more,” she whispers._

_He smiles at her, and that's when she sees the familiar shine of guarded wonder in his eye. She knew him. Harry, young Harry Kim, aged by an unknown amount of time._

“ _That one is for you captain.”_

_She looks to her grave and back at him._

“ _What?”_

“ _Thank you for getting us home.”_

Suddenly she is back in the briefing room, staring into an empty box.

“Kathryn?” Chakotay's asks gently.

She looks at him and notices that her cheeks are wet. Quickly, she wipes her face and closes the box.

“What did you see, captain?” Neelix pries.

“I--” she pauses to swallow the lump in her throat, pauses to form a lie, “I saw my mother. Thank you, Neelix. I think the crew could enjoy this."

 


End file.
